7. Our day in the ditch

After leaving Aqaba on Sunday evening, we all started to have a sense of the trip drawing to a close – Monday in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Tuesday transitting the Suez, Wednesday would be a day at sea and then early Thursday morning docking in Piraeus.

Consequently, to make the most of the last few days, we hopped on the shuttle bus to take us into Sharm-el-Sheikh after breakfast. This port, at the southern tip of the Sinai, juts out sort of midway across the Red Sea between the Egyptian mainland and the Saudi Arabian Coast.

Well, other than having the potential of being quite a nice beach resort, this is not a place I would rush back to. I must admit our experience was limited to what we saw through the bus windows on the way to the Duty Free (and Bargain Free) tourist zone, and the Duty Free Zone itself.

One gets the feeling of one of those small Natal South Coast resorts on a larger scale – cheap shops with gaudy beach stuff like buckets and spades and belly boards and rubbishy trinkets made in the East, a few shops printing slogans on T shirts while you wait, shops selling junk watches and so on.

There was a Hard Rock Café, Pizzaland, KFC, McDonalds, every fast food chain you could dream up, as well as an Irish Pub, and Fish and Chip joints. Along the main walking street in the Duty Free Zone was a mile of “Bedouin Eateries” – a string of carpeted, cushioned and canopied road islands that must buzz at nights with tourists, I suppose, but wandering around at 10:30 in the bright daylight of morning as we were, it was a creepy, dirty place, no resemblance at all to the Bedouin camp at which we had dinner in the desert near Dubai (which I suppose in turn also has no resemblance to a real camp as well …)

Prices were outrageous, shopkeepers were rude or at the best surly and unwelcoming (on one tourist shop window was a bold sign “NO to contempt religions! We worship Allah!”) I have the greatest respect for all religions and beliefs but this made me feel very unwelcome indeed.

What little we saw of the beaches looked great – like Mauritius, but much narrower – and the sea is clear and turquoise, very pretty. I think as long as you avoid the town, and stay at your resort, it would be quite a nice holiday. But I think I will stick with Mauritius – or even Umhlanga for that matter!

That night we set sail, again with the Silver Shadow with us – and headed up the Red Sea towards the Suez.

I was up at dawn’s crack to monitor the progress. We had dropped anchor at 2 am in the anchorage just before the start of the canal – very noisy that was too I can tell you, with us being at the front of the ship – and all around us in the morning light I could see scores of ships waiting for their individual pilots to be taken on and for the transit to start. The whole queue of about 35 of us set off at around 6:30 am, all at a steady pace of about 11 kph or 8 knots – I stand to be corrected on these numbers, they are from memory – the slow speeds are so the wake does not erode the canal banks. We were about 12th in the line, the Silver Shadow right behind us. Here you see us starting off, and the small image you see left of our wake is the Silver Shadow

The canal is narrow, and two ships cannot pass, except in certain designated passing points (lakes off to the side) – so what happens is that convoys set off from either end (North and South), and they are timed so that when the sole North bound convoy reaches the first of the two daily South bound convoys, it has already stopped at one of the passing points (Great Bitter Lakes) and we could serenely pass it by.

It takes 11 hours in all to get from the Southern end to the exit into the Med, so it was almost supper time by then. All along the way, specialist pilots are loaded and unloaded for each section, one for each ship – so there must be several hundred of them in all to handle the three daily convoys. This picture shows us leaving the canal behind the queue of 11 ships in front of us.

The following day at sea (our last full day on the ship) allowed us to relax, partake in our daily activities and that evening we were called to cash in our “prize points”. Now this is something to see!

Activities take place all day at various places on the ship – bridge, golf putting, shuffleboard, trivia quizzes and many more. I took part daily in the putting, and Rose and I both took part in the Team Trivia. Winners (top three) get prize point cards –and I didn’t have a clue until the final day that these could be cashed in for various items. We ended up with 72 points, enough to get a T Shirt! Other items were things like wine openers, bottle stoppers, and silly little trinkets like that, nice mementoes but of almost zero intrinsic value.

The most surreal thing I saw on the trip was multi-millionaires from all counties – people paying up to $10,000 per person for the trip, queuing eagerly for a cheap worthless trinket. What is it that motivates this type of behavior – the thrill of getting something (anything) for nothing? The thrill of being recognized as a winner? It astounded me. Some of these people could probably buy SA Breweries or Old Mutual or both – what on earth do they want with a $10 T-shirt or a $5 corkscrew – why on earth stand in a queue for one?

And before you ask - yes, of course I was there in the queue as well!

6. Petra – in the footsteps of Indiana Jones

After leaving Luxor, surviving the hair raising three hour ride back to the port of Safaga, and our driver being denied access to the port, we walked the last kilometer from the port gate to the Silver Cloud, moored alongside the Silver Shadow, her big sister (quite an unusual event) – it just so happened that she was on a world cruise in the same last four ports that we were in – Safaga, Aqaba (Jordan), Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt again) and then Athens.

Returning to our suite after a night away was strangely similar to a mini-homecoming, and we settled in as the ship was readied for leaving for Aqaba.

Nadee, our Jordanian guide and driver who was waiting alongside the gangway as we disembarked in Aqaba was a very pleasant surprise after the Egyptian driver we had at Safaga – he was a dignified, Omar Sharif type father figure, who spoke very good English, and was clearly extremely proud of his country and what it had to offer, besides being an expert and careful driver.

En route to Petra he punctuated the trip with useful information about the countryside, social issues and the history of Jordan and Petra in particular – so by the time we were handed over to our local guide in Petra, we had already been already familiarized with what we were about to see. Again this was very different from the Luxor trip, where the hell raising driver did not speak a word to us all the way – he was not able to speak English at all, as far as we could see. Neither was he able to get into the port to fetch us, requiring us to hitch a ride on the Silverseas tour bus to the port gate, and then take a short ride in a 1960’s Peugeot station wagon taxi before finally getting to our transport. Happily none of this happened here in Aqaba.

Petra is the site used in “Indiana Jones – the Last Crusade” – to get to this long hidden city, high in the mountains, you have to walk the last kilometer through a narrow cleft in the mountain (the Siq) which itself is an experience.

Once into the Siq, our young guide (also excellent) showed us how the ancient Nabataean occupants were excellent water engineers who used ceramic pipes (still in place) to carry water from a diverted river (the Siq was its original bed) down into Petra.

Petra itself is fascinating – emerging from the Siq you are faced with the Khazneh (“Treasury”), but leading off from this is the whole hidden city – over 40 square kilometers in size, containing an amphitheatre (Roman origin) seating 3,000 spectators, and many other buildings – the unique thing is that everything is not built – it is carved out of the actual mountain – and the stone is rose red. This pic shows me in my Indiana Jones hat in front of the Khazneh.

The Khazneh seen here is the building in which Indiana Jones finds the Holy Grail.

On the right is Rose standing in front of the Khazneh - this shows the scale and how big it actually is.

When this picture was taken Rose was starting to experience a severe headache. It was unfortunate that it soon became clear that Rose had became dehydrated and for a time was quite ill – and we had to walk the full length of the Siq, now uphill, in the noon heat and dust. It was quite concerning, as there is no other way out.

Fortunately, Nadee had given us his cellphone number, and with his very concerned assistance, we found a quiet, air-conditioned room in a local restaurant, bought some rehydrating solution from a pharmacy, and managed to get Rose (lying on the back seat most of the way) back to the ship. On the trip back, she began to recover and by the next morning was back to her perky self.

I must recommend Nadee highly - if he represents the quality of the tours provided by his company (Nyazi Tours, http://www.nyazi.com.jo/), then you should look no further when deciding who to use in Jordan. Wadi Rum, by his description, is very well worth a visit as well as Petra, if you ever visit Aqaba.

5. Walking like Egyptians

We woke up the first morning (Thursday 27 Mar) to the change of rhythm that we would soon recognize as an indication that we were close to port and it would not be long before we were to dock.

A slowing down, as the pilot climbed up a rope ladder from his little boat, then the steady and stately pace that we assume to enter the port and approach our designated berthing spot.

Captain Pontillo seems to like to berth positioned for a quick getaway, so, if necessary, he swings around to face the direction we will take on leaving, and, scorning the tugs waiting their chance to nudge us into position, he edges us gently and precisely up to the dock, and the sounds of the various engines needed to achieve this die away to silence.

By eight we had docked in Fujairah (another of the United Arab Emirates), and, as it was our first stop, we took the shuttle bus into town to see what was available. We were dropped of in front of Lulu’s Hypermarket, an unpromising looking, smallish, rather tatty suburban shopping centre – but once again, the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” was proven true. It was our first experience on this trip of a “fixed price” shopping centre, and a welcome relief from bartering.

Prices were all lower than we had seen anywhere in Dubai (perhaps with a bit more concerted effort, we could have beaten them down to these levels), but it was a pleasure to just pay the money and go. Some examples – a Maglite torch – SA price R 230, Dubai, R 140, Fujairah R 80; and a particular Seiko Kinetic watch – SA price R 5,700, Dubai, R4,200, Fujairah R 3,400 – unfortunately I had already bought the watch in Dubai. I really find bartering unpleasant and stressful, and I never push it to the limit, I just couldn’t be bothered.

By the time we arrived at Salalah (on the West side of Oman), on Saturday morning, we had decided to relax and not to go ashore, we lazed around the pool, had coffee in the lounge, and just chilled.

But if I find bartering unpleasant, it’s nothing compared to just walking down a shopping street in Egypt – you are accosted from all sides by cocky 22 year old, western dressed young men, pressuring you into having a look at their shop. All the old tricks are played: “Where are you from?” “South Africa.” “Bafana Bafana !” Ho hum.

But let’s not dwell on the negative – the night away in Egypt was magic for us, any unpleasantness far outweighed.

The highlight (and we must thank Janet of Sure Voyager Travel for inserting this diversion) was the visit to the Tombs of the Artisans. Visiting Luxor and the Valley of the Kings in 24 hours is a little like doing a wine tasting – all you can take away is a small taste of many beautiful experiences. The number of tourists is more than astounding – busloads and busloads filing through the turnstiles, trooping down the long passages into the Kings tombs with glazed eyes and empty heads, touching 3,000 year old carvings when they have been told not to …

I am fascinated with antiquity (see my profile) and I lagged behind studying the immense detail on the walls and ceilings, imagining what went into the planning and execution and soaking in the experience. Unfortunately, the time was just not available, so I satisfied myself with taking time on sections and glossing over the rest, in each of the three tombs we visited Rameses II, Rameses III and Rameses IV - not my ancestors, and in fact, Rameses III and Rameses II were separated by 300 years.

The tombs were big and impressive, but had been exploited, robbed and whatever was left moved to museums in Cairo or all over the world, but they were still amazing. The tombs of the artisans though, were much more intact, less affected by time, thieves or tourism, and by visiting them, you were able to recreate in your mind, what the kings tombs must have looked like, in their original state.

The reason they are left out by big tour buses is that they are small – too small to be entered by more than eight or so at a time – compare this to the eighty or so in any of the king’s tombs. They are also considered by many tourists as being unimportant – being only the tombs of the workers on the other, more noble, tombs.

The thing is, as much care was taken on these as the others, and they are incredibly well preserved. Full wall and ceiling art in all chambers are intact, untouched, and still have full vivid colouring – and by looking at them, you can reconstruct, in your mind, what the main tombs (and temples) must have looked like.

The more commonly visited sites still retain the intricate carving and immense scale, but it is only in the artisans tombs where you can experience the original vivid colours together. To see them you have to visit in a small group, with a private guide. There is another bonus here – the remains of the village where they lived can be seen as well, giving a really good idea of their living quarters.

While we were there we were also treated with guided visits to the Luxor and Karnak temples (you think St Peter’s in Rome is big?), as well as the Disneyland experience of overtaking on blind corners and blind rises, on a single lane each way highway, and pulling out to overtake articulated trucks, over solid white lines, into the face of another articulated truck heading towards you. Somehow it all seems to work, heaven knows how, the traffic seems to part like the Red Sea did for Moses. I spent a fair amount of the trip to and from Luxor with my eyes closed.

Luxor is a must-do, I will be back, and I will couple this with a visit to the museums in Cairo. (I will fly in, though – my nerves will not stand another drive in.)

As a standard, tick the box, tourist destination, don’t bother, you will get better value in many other places. But if you want a spiritual experience, and are prepared to brave the flies, the touts, the dust and heat and the potential tummy upsets, you will be very hard pressed to find a more intense experience anywhere else. This was a highlight.

4. Flirting with Camels

We had a few days in Dubai (just to be safe, in case our luggage went to Dublin, Durban or Dubrovnik) and we used this time to experience a little of Arabia before we set sail. So, on the second afternoon we went dune bashing in 4x4’s, followed up by dinner under the stars in what was a reasonable replica (I hope) of a Bedouin camp.

It was interesting, and reasonably diverting, but all a bit too mass produced to be able to be recommended. There must have been around a hundred identical 4x4’s in groups of 10 or so that afternoon – and our driver told us it was a quiet day!

All headed out separately from various hotels around the city, and mustered in massive “outspans” while they waited in blistering heat for everyone to arrive. Then they left in groups behind a leader, swooping over the dunes, slipping and sliding, up steep slopes, and suddenly cresting the dune and shooting straight down the other side.

Various strategic “photo stops” punctuated the excursion, but it was clear that this was to allow other groups to get ahead, or to follow – all in all these stops were very hot, very dusty and very boring, and lengthened the time to a point where it became irritating. The actual dune riding was probably no more than 20 or 25 minutes, but the long ride out from Dubai, and the interminable “photo stops” and mustering before and after stretched the time out to nearly three hours before we arrived at a camel farm, for a quick “shoofti” before dinner. Here, Rory and I are eyeball to eyeball with a camel, hoping to discern her inner beauty.

The supper was also interesting, but again, just a little too stage-managed for purposes of efficiency of handling a large group. But it did give us enough of a glimpse of what a Bedouin lifestyle must be – carpets spread on desert sand, big, silky cushions to sit cross legged on before low tables, partly under cover of expansive tents.

Another slight disappointment was the “City Tour” the previous day. And again, it was not the sights that disappointed, but the over-organization, the time wasting involved in gathering the maximum number of tourists together before starting, and then the multiple languages that all descriptions were given in so that everyone followed what was going on.

Other than the “hurry up and wait” nature of the tour, it was really fascinating to see this huge, vibrant and fast growing city, which has emerged from the dusty desert in less than 40 years. A highlight was crossing the creek in the little “taxi-boats”, to the Gold Souk. Here is a "dinner dhow", a floating restaurant we passed on the crossing.

Later, when we took a taxi to the Mall of the Emirates, we decided that what we should have done rather was hire a taxi for two or three hours, and do the city tour ourselves. In that way we could spend short stops at the spots we were not interested in, and take as much time as we needed at others. Taxis are really inexpensive – short trips around the city cost as little as Dh 8 (R 16, or around 1 pound).

While on the topic of the Mall of the Emirates, this was one mother of a Mall – put two Gateway’s side by side, then stack another two on top, and add to this a full Ski slope (looked like half a kilometer long, about 80 metres wide, with the start about 25 stories high), covered with real snow, dozens of ski-suited people on the high chair-lift, kids on the junior slopes and toboggan run, après ski taverns – all enclosed in glass and aluminium – and all this in the middle of a desert! This is nothing like what I expected – I had an idea of an artificial, nylon slope about two or maybe three stories high - this place must be seen to be believed. Imagine keeping the temperature below freezing – it reaches up to 50 degrees in mid summer!